DUNDEE and ABERDEEN are largely occupied, the latter almost entirely, in the coasting trade. The foreign trade of Dundee is about 5 millions sterling a year, that of Aberdeen scarcely amounts to 1 million. Dundee imports enormous quantities of jute from British India for its great jute works, the largest in the kingdom, employing altogether over 40,000 operatives. IRISH PORTS: The direct foreign trade of Irish ports is small; no less than 98 per cent. of the total trade of Ireland is done with Great Britain. Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and Londonderry do nearly all the trade with Great Britain-the goods traffic is mainly through Liverpool, Bristol, and Glasgow, and the passenger traffic through New Milford, Holyhead, Fleetwood, and Stranraer. ... There are numerous other ports in the British Isles, with comparatively small tonnage, which are yet important as the outlets or feeders of the staple industries of many districts. Thus the port of Beaumaris (which in the Customs Returns includes Bangor, the port of the Penrhyn slate quarries, Port Dinorwic, the port of the Llanberis quarries, and Carnarvon, that of Nantlle, &c.) probably exports more slates than any other port in the world. The port of Poole, again, on the south coast of England, sends very large quantities of the best clay from the adjacent Purbeck Hills to the Mersey, and thence forwarded to Staffordshire and other places for the manufacture of superior china. Several Scotch ports, besides Aberdeen, have very large exports of granite; Portland, in the south of England, supplies building stone. CONSTITUTION and GOVERNMENT: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and all the British Dominions beyond the seas, constitutes, in form of government, a Hereditary and Limited Monarchy. The executive fower is nominally in the hands of the Sovereign; the legislative power is divided between the Sovereign, the House of Peers, and the House of Commons-the last being a Representative Assembly, elected by qualified classes of the people at large. The House of Commons alone has the right to regulate the taxes and expenditure of the kingdom, and the Ministers of the Crown are responsible to it for their public proceedings. The people of the British Islands thus enjoy the blessings of a free Constitution. The expression of opinion is free to all classes. "The present form of Parliament, as divided into two Houses of Legislature, the Lords and the Commons, dates from the middle of the fifteenth century." The House of Lords consists of all the Peers of England, 16 Scottish Repre sentative Peers, elected for each Parliament, and 28 Irish Representative Peers, elected for life, besides 24 Bishops and 2 Archbishops, numbering 593 in all, in 1900. The House of Commons consists of 670 members-465 for England, 30 for Wales, 72 for Scotiand, and 103 for Ireland. Members of Parliament are elected for each Parliament by the electors; in 1900, there were 6 million registered electors, or one to about every six of the population. The House of Commons must be dissolved every seven years and a new one elected, and it may be dissolved by the Sovereign at any time; but this right is now seldom exercised by the Sovereign, except with the advice and consent of the Cabinet. The Executive Power, nominally in the hands of the Sovereign, is practically vested in the Cabinet, which at present consists of the following Ministers :The Prime Minister, who is also the First Lord of the Treasury, the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Privy Seal, the First Lords of the Treasury and Admiralty, the Secretaries of State for Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, the Colonies, War; and India, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary for Scotland, the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Postmaster General, the Presidents of the Board of Trade, Local Government Board, Board of Agriculture, Board of Education, and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The heads of other Government Departments are not in the Cabinet. "Our Government, like other Governments, has a great deal to do besides making laws. It has to administer the affairs of an enormous empire. It has to conduct the foreign relations of an empire not less powerful than any empire in the world. It has to conduct the relations of that empire with every foreign State, civilised or uncivilised, all over the world. It has to administer the affairs of a great Indian Empire-a task the like of which does not devolve upon any other Government in the world. It has to regulate the relations of the mother country with vast self-governing colonies, to provide to a certain extent for the government of those great communities, to watch over their interests, and to regulate their relations with each other, and with ourselves. Our Government has vast naval and military departments to administer, not to speak of such unconsidered trifles as the Post-Office and Telegraph Department, which are in themselves departments as great as any of those railway or industrial companies with whose affairs we are acquainted. Above all, it has to superintend the collection and the expenditure of an enormous annual revenue." FINANCE: The annual Revenue, which is chiefly derived from the Excise, Customs, Stamps and Taxes, and the Post Office and Telegraphs, and Expenditure, mainly on account of the Public Debt, the Army and Navy, and the Civil Services, each amount to about 140-145 millions sterling; while the National Debt amounts to 706 millions. In 1905-6, the National Income amounted to 144 millions sterling, to which the Customs contributed 341⁄2 millions, Excise 30 millions, Stamps 8 millions, Income Tax 311⁄2 millions, Estate Duty 13 millons, Post Office and Telegraphs 21 millions. The principal branches of Expenditure in 1905-6, which amounted to 140% millions, were:-Interest and charges on the National Debt, 28 millions: Army and Navy, 621⁄2 millions; and Civil Service-Public Works, Law and Justice, Education, Science and Art, &c.-30 millions. FORCES: The British Army is small compared with the huge armies of continental powers, but the Navy is the largest and most powerful in the world. The Regular Army consisted in 1905 of about 276,000 soldiers, with an Ai my 1. Extract from Lord Hartington's (present Duke of Devonshire) speech, August 12, 1850. Reserve of 99,000 men. The The Navy is the chief defence of the home country and its colonies and dependencies in all parts of the world, and so long as it is unquestionably the most powerful in the world, it assures to us the supremacy of the sea. Navy has been greatly strengthened by the addition of new ironclads, cruisers, torpedo boats, &c., and now includes (1907) 52 battleships, 28 armoured cruisers, 54 protected cruisers, 194 torpedo craft (including 142 torpedo boat "destroyers"), and 30 submarines. Three battleships of the powerful Dreadnought type are built or completing, and three more are building. The fleet is at present manned by nearly 128,000 seamen and marines. RELIGION and EDUCATION: There is perfect religious equality and absolute freedom of worship in our country. Elementary education is compulsory in both Great Britain and Ireland, and was made free in Scotland in 1889, and in England and Wales in 1891. Higher education is amply provided for by public and private schools, colleges, and universities. The Established Church of England is Protestant Episcopal, and is under the government of two archbishops and 33 bishops. The sovereign is by law the supreme governor of the church, and in the theory of English law, every Englishman is a member of the Church of England"; but the number actually belonging to it does not probably exceed 15% millions, or about one-half of the population of England and Wales; of the rest, about 10 millions belong to various Protestant Sects-Methodists, Baptists, &c., and there are about 1 million Roman Catholics and 100,000 Jews (70,000 of them in London). The Established Church of Scotland is Presbyterian in form, and is under the supreme control of the General Assembly, which meets annually at Edinburgh, under the presidency of an elected Moderator, the Sovereign being represented by the Lord High Commissioner. Of the dissenting Presbyterian bodies, the largest are the Free Church and the United Presbyterian Church, now united under the name of the "United Free Church of Scotland." About 122,000 of the Scottish people belong to the Episcopal Church, while 365,000 are Roman Catholics. There is no State Church in Ireland. The majority of the people belong to the Roman Catholic Church, which is ruled by 4 archbishops and 23 bishops. The Protestant Episcopal Church of Ireland, formerly the Established or State Church, has about 620,000 members, and there are about half-a-million Presbyterians, Methodists, &c. Elementary Education is compulsory in the United Kingdom, and was made free in Scotland in 1889, and in England and Wales in 1891. The Education Act of 1902 swept away the School Board system from England and Wales, and gave the control of Elementary Education to the County Councils, or similar local authorities. All elementary schools, including Voluntary (non-provided schools), are now supported out of the local rates. In Ireland elementary education is controlled by the "Commissioners of National Education." All public elementary schools receive Government Grants. The total grants to Primary Schools in 1902 (including local rates in Ireland) amounted to nearly 12 million sterling, the average number of children in attendance being about 6 millions. Higher Education is provided for by the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Victoria, London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, and Sheffield, in England; The University of Wales, in Wales; Edinburgh, Glasgow, St. Andrew's and Aberdeen in Scotland; and Dublin in Ireland. Besides these Universities, there are University Colleges at London, Bristol, Newcastle, and Nottingham in England; at Aberystwith, Lampeter, Bangor, and Cardiff in Wales; and Dundee in Scotland. In Ireland higher education is given in the Queen's Colleges at Belfast, Cork and Galway. There are several University Colleges for women, the principal ones being Newnham and Girton Colleges in Cambridge. The Public and Grammar Schools, as well as the Private Schools and Golleges of England and Wales, are not under Government control; in Scotland a large number of higher-class schools are inspected, and in Ireland there are about 1,500 superior schools. There are numerous Training Colleges for elementary teachers, and a large number of Science and Art C.asses in connection with the Science and Art Department at South Kensington. Medical Schools are attached to most of the large hospitals and some of the universities and schools, and there are several Engineering and Agricultural Colleges, and Naval and Military Schools. Technical education is now being recognised as an important factor in the education of the young. THE BRITISH EMPIRE.-Besides Great Britain and Ireland, the British Empire embraces a vast number of Colonies, Protectorates, and Dependencies, including amongst them territories in every quarter of the globe. In Europe, the British flag floats over Gibraltar, which commands the entrance to the Mediterranean, and Malta, a fortified coaling-station and entrepôt for British goods. The Channel Islands are usually included in the United Kingdom. The British Empire in India extends over a territory nearly one-half the area and about three-fourths the population of the Continent of Europe. Our Indian Empire embraces nine great Provinces under British rule, and a large number of tributary Native States. A new Province has been created on the north-west frontier, beyond the Indus. Other British Possessions in Asia are Ceylon, a large island in the Indian Ocean to the south-east of India; Aden, on the south coast of Arabia, with the islands of Perim, Kuria Muria, and Bahrein; the Straits Settlements and Protectorates in the Malay Peninsula; Hong Kong and Kaulun, and Weihai ei, in China; and British North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, in the East Indan Archipelago. In Africa, we have the West, South, and East African Colonies and Protectorates on the mainland, together with the islands of Ascension and St. Helena off the west coast, and Mauritius, Zanzibar, Pemba, Seychelles, Amirantes, and Socotra, off the east Coast. British West Africa includes Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, Northern and Southern Nigeria Lagos,, with its dependencies, Sokoto, Gando, Bornu, and Adamawa. British South Africa embraces the Cape Colony, Natal with Zululand, Bechuanaland, Transvaal, Orange River Colony, Basutoland, and Rhodesia. British East Africa and Uganda, a vast region extending from the coast to the Victoria Nyanza and the Upper Nile, and British Central Africa, which includes the inland districts bordering Lake Nyassa, complete our actual possessions on the mainland, though Egypt and the Egyptian Sudan are virtually British Protectorates, being under Anglo-Egyptian control, The British Empire in America includes the vast Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the British West Indies, British Honduras, British Guiana, and the Falkland Islands. British Australasia is formed of the six great states into which Australia is divided, namely, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania; and New Zealand, Fiji, with the southwestern part of New Guinea. In the Western Pacific, a number of small islands and island groups are British Possessions or British Protectorates, but are not included in any colony Area (sq. miles) Summary of the British Empire. Europe. Asia. Africa. America. Australasia. 121,510 1,906,300 2, 195.300 4,025,700 3,184.500 43,880,000 301,293,000 34,100, 00 7,990,000 5,623,000 . The areas and population of British Asia and Africa include the latest estimates of the Protectorates and Spheres of Influence. The total area of the British Empire is thus over 11,400,000 square miles, or more than one-firth of all the land of the globe. while the population numbers about 400 millions, or about onefourth of the total population of the world.' The British Possessions and Dependencies in Asia alone have an area of nearly 2 million square miles, and a population of over 300 millions: while the Protectorates and Spheres of Influence, defined within recent years in the Dark Continent, are estimated to add 2 million square miles more of land, with perhaps 36 million people, to the already extensive British territories in Africa. Excluding India, the Colonies, etc. have an area of nearly 9%1⁄2 million square miles, and a population of 62%1⁄2 millions. The commercial and political value to the Mother Country of her Colonies and Dependencies, acquired by conquest or treaty, purchase or settlement, is incalculable, and without such boundless fields for emigration "under the flag" as Australia and New Zealand, Canada and Southern Africa present; such markets for British goods as we find in India and the Colonies generally; such facilities for the collection of raw materials from, and the distribution of our manufactures to surrounding countries as are at our command in great entrepôts like Singapore and Hong Kong, or trading stations as on the West Coast of Africa, coaling stations for our merchant steamers as at Aden and other places, and fortified stations for our men-of-war on all the great ocean highways-without such possessions and dependencies in all parts of the world, Britain could never have acquired her present predominance either in the commercial or in the political world. One-fourth of the entire trade of the United Kingdom is with India and the Colonies; and were the rest of the world closed to our commerce, there is no product which we now derive from foreign countries that could not be supplied by one or other of our trans-oceanic possessions, the development of which would vastly increase the requirements of what are, even now, the most valuable markets for British manufactures in the world. Trade follows the flag, and "colonial trade is safer and steadier than ordinary foreign trade." 1. Feyft and the Fryptian Sudan, although | area is about 1,350,000 square miles and population sccupied and administered by Great Britain are over 12,000,000. not included in the above figures; their combined |